Poland and Polish Discussion Group and Forum

Welcome to the original English language Poland and Polish discussion group board. This message forum is a place where English-speaking Poles, foreigners (expats) living in Poland, and anyone with a genuine interest in Poland can discuss and read the views of others concerning Poland. Subjects include: Polish news and current affairs; Life in Poland; politics; genealogy research; Polish culture and history; advice and tips on visiting Poland; Polish property and investment issues. The aim of our group is to increase awareness of wonderful Poland using the English language and allow and foster the honest debate and exchange of opinions on anything vaguely related to Poland and Polish - positive, negative and/or neutral! To state the obvious: all opinions and views expressed on this site are solely those of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of anyone else! Messages consisting of ads will be deleted.

Germany striker Lukas Podolski has ridiculed a threat by a politician to withdraw his Polish passport by revealing he does not even have one.

The Bayern Munich hitman was born in Poland, but moved to Germany as a two-year-old and grew up near Cologne.

He scored twice as Joachim Low's side beat the Poles 2-0 on Sunday, prompting Polish politician Miroslav Orzechowski to threaten to take away his passport.

"The funny thing is, I don't even have a Polish passport," said Podolski in the Kolner Express newspaper.

"The Polish Football Association never showed an interest in me. Only when I played for the Under-21s and was in the public eye did they start to make moves."

The 23-year-old refused to celebrate his two goals against the country of his birth and was seen consoling Polish family members in the stands after Sunday's Group B clash.

Despite Orzechowski's comments, Podolski maintains he has and always will have a strong relationship with Poland, although he is fully committed to winning Euro 2008 with Germany, as he showed at the weekend.

"I made a decision for Germany and it was the right one," he added. "Still, I have two hearts beating inside me."

Klagenfurt, Austria (Sports Network) - Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has confirmed his intention to rest several key players who are threatened by suspension for its final group match against Poland on Monday.

Croatia have already booked its spot in the quarterfinals as Group B winners and Robert Kovac, Josip Simunic, Darijo Srna and Luka Modric, who all have one booking to their names, will play no part in the final game.

The likes of Niko Kranjcar, Ivica Olic and Niko Kovac could also be rested as Bilic looks to keep his players fresh for the knockout stages.

"Players with yellow cards will not play against Poland," Bilic confirmed.

Boruc, the "delectable" goalkeeper, indeed had a good, albeit short, tournament. I'm sure he earned several million Euros for himself; I wonder how many scouts/teams from around Europe are interested in him now.

Another Ania - you mentioned in the other thread that you hadn't seen a good team yet. You're not entertained by the Dutch? 8 goals in three matches... that's enough scoring to get even an American interested.